Lord Cornwallis

 Lord Cornwallis twice held the high post of governor general. His first tenure lasted from 1786 to 1793. For second time, he came to India in 1805, but died before he could do any wonders again.

Major Reforms Introduced by Lord Cornwallis:

Permanent Settlement (1793)

• Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement of land revenue in Bengal and other parts of India.
• Under this system, Zamindars or landlords were made the owners of the land, and the farmers were reduced to the status of tenants. The Zamindars had the right to evict the farmers at any time.
• The Zamindars had to pay 89% of the land revenue to the British and the remaining was for him.
• Under this system, land revenue was fixed for a term of ten years.
• This system accelerated the drain of wealth from India to Britain.

Service Reforms

To “curb” the corruption in the company, Cornwallis was given sufficient powers and authorities. 

• He established rules which allowed only qualified persons to get into the services irrespective of their connections with higher authorities.
• Top posts were reserved for the Europeans whereas Indians were offered lower grade posts such as Peons and clerks.
• Private trade of the company was abolished completely
• The revenue collectors were deprived of the Judicial powers.

Judiciary Reforms

Cornwallis established courts in the districts, provinces and states. The highest court was the Supreme Court of Calcutta.

Civil Judiciary reforms

• Lowest Court → Amin Court or Munsif Court. Decide the case where the value was less than Rs. 50.
• The higher court was the District court or “Diwani Adalat”. The Judge was called “Session Judge”. This session Judge was essentially an Englishman, who used to deliver justice to “only Indians” and not the Europeans. He was assisted by assessors.
• The higher than Diwani Adalat was the Provincial Court of Appeal. Four provincial Courts of appeal were set up at Dhaka, Calcutta, Murshidabad and Patna. These courts heard appeals from the districts except the English.
• Highest Court of Appeal was set up which was called “Sadar Diwani Adalat”. The headquarters of Adalat was at Calcutta. Its judge was supported by a Head Qazi, two Muftis and Two Pandits.
• The appeals from the “Sadar Diwani Adalat” were submitted to the King in England. The King of England only entertained those cases whose value was more than 5000 rupees.

Criminal Judiciary reforms

• At Taluka / Tahsil level there was a Darogh-i-Adalat. Its Judge was “Darogha” who was “An Indian“. This was the lowest level.
• The appeals from a Darogha could be taken to “District Criminal Courts”. The judge of this court was a Session Judge, an English.
• To hear the criminal appeals from District courts, 4 Circuit Courts at Murshidabad, Dhaka, Calcutta and Patna were established.
• The Highest court of Criminal appeal was in “Sadar Diwani Adalat” at Calcutta which used to sit once in a week. It was supervised by Governor General in council.
• There were separate courts for civil and criminal cases.
• Cornwallis abolished court fees and then lawyers were to prescribe their fees.
• Government servants could be sued by people for their mistakes.
• He also banned torturous punishments like the chopping off of limbs, nose and ears.

Police Reforms

• He took the control of the police from the hands of the landlords to the District Superintendent of Police.
• He established thanas to maintain law and order.
• In 1789, he proclaimed that people practising slavery would be prosecuted by law.
• It was Lord Ellenborough who abolished slavery in India. The Indian Slavery Act, 1843.

Third Anglo-Mysore War In 1790, Cornwallis declared war on Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore when the latter attacked Travancore, a British-friendly province. Tipu had also refused to release English prisoners taken during the second Anglo-Mysore War. After this war, Tipu Sultan had to cede large parts of his kingdom to the British. As a result, the British won Malabar, Dindigul, Baramahal and Coorg.